Bradford on Avon boy's TV wind-up

Schoolboy Mark Faxby is already thinking of ways to get his own back on his dad, after he surprised him on television dressed as a dame. Mark, 12, of Avon Close, Bradford on Avon, applied to be on a new, yet-to-be-named CBBC game show but was told he was

Schoolboy Mark Faxby is already thinking of ways to get his own back on his dad, after he surprised him on television dressed as a dame.

Mark, 12, of Avon Close, Bradford on Avon, applied to be on a new, yet-to-be-named CBBC game show but was told he was unsuccessful.

As a consolation prize he was given three tickets to be in the audience of CBBC’s Sam and Mark’s Friday Night Out Wind Up, but little did he know that he had been chosen to be part of the show and his dad, Colin, and mum, Vanessa, were in on the act.

Mark, a pupil at St Laurence School, travelled to MediaCityUK in Salford with mum and 15-year-old brother Luke, thinking his taxi driver dad was at work in Bradford on Avon. But dad Colin was already at the studios, waiting in the green room.

The three of them were in the audience watching Sam and Mark when the boom cam picked Mark out of the audience to come down onto the stage and sit on the sofa.

Mark said: “Sam and Mark are legends, so I got up straight away because I wanted to meet them.”

He talked to the presenters about his love of Doctor Who, before they revealed a recording, filmed on green screen, of his dad transforming from Doctor Who’s Colin Baker into a dame called Coleen.

It was at this moment his dad stepped out of a Tardis, on the stage, dressed as the dame to surprise his son.

Mark, who attends Characters Stage School in the town, said: “I had no idea. When they asked what would you do if your dad was behind the Tardis I said I would kill him. They had to cut that bit.

“I want to be an actor, and to be the next Doctor Who, and this has spurred me on even more. It was a day to remember, but I am already thinking of ways to get my own back.”

Mark and his dad then had to answer Doctor Who related questions before winning a VIP pass for the whole family to the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff.

Mr Faxby, 46, said: “It is so easy to wind Mark up. It was hard to keep a secret but I had so much fun.I was out back chatting to this guy, who I thought worked on the show. I went back in and a researcher said did I know I was speaking to singer Matt Cardle?”